Candidates gear up for battle in Hindustan/St Mary's

THE PNM and UNC candidates, Martina Loubon Le Gendre and Tylon Dwight Farrell, on Monday expressed confidence of winning the Hindustan/St Mary's local government by-election on January 25.

Le Gendre and Farrell have former PNM and UNC Moruga/Tableland candidates, Winston "Gypsy" Peters and Michelle Benjamin, in their respective corners for this by-election.

Benjamin, the former UNC councillor for the area, defeated Peters in the August 10 general election to win the Moruga/Tableland constituency for the UNC.

Also in the race is independent candidate Ariel Saunders, who is hoping to break the cycle of party politics at local government level.

All three filed their nomination papers at the Princes Town West Secondary School.

Le Gendre said, "I am very confident that the PNM can bring home this seat. So far I've been getting positive responses because I am well known in the electoral district as well. I have been getting a lot of positive response, especially from the youth side of it." A resident of St Hindustan/St Mary's, Le Gendre observed, "Infrastructure plays a big role in the electoral district as well as social issues. We have a lot of social issues that plague the electoral district."

She wanted to "go back to the roots of the electoral district and speak to the common man on the ground. With skills in human resource management, Le Gendre hoped to foster "the help and togetherness" of residents to solve challenges in the area.

She was grateful to have Peters as her campaign manager.

Peters said Hindustan/St Mary's "has not been a traditionally PNM-held seat, but it has been a seat with some level fluctuation over the years. We have to work and capitalise on that."

He said lessons learnt from the PNM's defeat in Moruga/Tableland last August were helping with strategy for the by-election.

Peters said the PNM knows "where to work and how to work and who to work with" to win the district. "Experience is life's greatest teacher."

Farrell said, "I am just waiting for January 25. I will be picking up where the councillor (Benjamin) left off."

He identified culture and youth development as two of his priorities.

Benjamin said Farrell has "my full endorsement. He is what the district needs."

Identifying several structural issues in Hindustan/St Mary's which must be dealt with, Benjamin said, the representative has to be a person on the ground. While it is a marginal district, Benjamin recalled she won it in 2013 by 200 votes and increased that margin in 2019.

Saunders said, "What is happening with our party politics is harming us very seriously at the local government level, and local government is important to a community's function."

He noted that Hindustan/St Mary's falls under the UNC-controlled Princes Town Regional Corporation, while the PNM controls central government.

Saunders said he is offering himself as "a suitable alternative" who is not aligned to partisan politics. As secretary of the St Mary's Village and a well known person in the community, he did not see himself as someone who would split votes, allowing either the PNM or UNC to win the district.

"I can't ever buy into the concept of vote-splitting because votes don't belong to any particular party."